Love is Like A For*bid*den Fruit

“Elena wake up, you will be late to your office dear. It’s already 7.30am. Come on baby”, my mom started waking me up, as I had put the alarm in snooze mode. It was a normal and regular day for me, even though it was Monday. I opened my eyes and the sun rays started piercing my eyes. I gently massaged my eyelids and opened my eyes again, and adjusted to the lighting in my surroundings. As usual, I woke up and went towards my washroom and did my morning chores. I then had a shower and came out by draping a clean towel around my body. I went towards my little cabinet placed at the end of the wall. It was placed adjacent to the washroom door, so that I could get my clothing as soon as I came out of the shower. I removed washed jeans and sleeveless and red colored formal tee and went towards my dressing area. I didn't have a huge dresser like they show in the series and movies. All I had was a full length mirror and I had to stand before it while getting dressed. I then applied a little makeover, like my face cream and little powder and finally a bit of mascara and kohl line. I tied my hair into a chignon and left towards the living area. Our hair must always be tied into a proper bun or plaits, as we will be constantly working around chemicals.  Mom had already prepared my breakfast, some french toast and orange juice. She had even packed my lunch box, the same for my lunch in the office, as she didn’t like me spending my money unnecessarily for my lunch in the cafeteria. She had a floral business to take care of and she had to open the flower shop at around 10am. She was quite famous in the neighborhood for providing the right set of flowers for the occasion. I had even got a website for her shop “Lockwood’s Flowers” made, so that she would get customers from outside our neighborhood too. Mrs Sarah Lockwood and her flower shop was quite famous in the nearby blocks in our small city, Hudson in New York. I left towards my office located in New York, Strauss Pharmaceuticals, a branch office of the main office located in London. I was working as a lab assistant in the company, and we were never known to anyone else in the company, except for the lab technicians and the receptionists, whom I greeted every morning, while punching my ID card for the day’s sign in. We had never even met the other department workers, except for the time when we actually interviewed for the job. Hence, the outside world didn't know much about us technicians. Our work was to thoroughly screen the new medicines that were prepared in the chemical department and decide whether it is safer to release to the world or not, by conducting necessary lab tests. Sometimes, we used to forget about the time and would work even 24/7, till we got the promising results. Our results would affect the working of the chemical department and based on our results, they would make necessary changes in their chemical formulae and finally come up with the best products for treating any ailment. I entered into the office premise and greeted Nicole Richards, the receptionist and my very good friend. She knew me because of meeting and greeting me on a daily basis. Sometimes, when the workload was quite high, I would come out of the lab to enjoy some fresh air and would speak to Nicole for sometime. Sometimes, even she would join me and we would just speak about some trivial stuff like our family, school and college life and so on, while strolling in the office garden. I was a lab assistant and my mentor was Mrs. Rachael Stiff. She was working for more than 12 to 15 years in the laboratory and I was placed under her wing to learn about the methods of dealing with the testing of any drug or medicine. I was lucky to be a part of her team as she was quite famous for offering excellent results. I completed my education life at around 25 years and was working under Mrs Stiff from past three years. Sometimes, she would even allow me to conduct the experiments on my own, as she not only trusted in my potential, but believed in the fact that I should work alone to gain the courage and knowledge to work alone in the future years. My future was all set, as I adored my mentor and would not mind working for her for many more years. Even though she was a very nice person, she would not appreciate taking personal time, during the working hours. Hence, I had to ask for her permission to go out for some fresh air, and sometimes she would also join me for a stroll in the office garden. Overall, I loved my job, work environment, my colleague / mentor and everything else. My mother wouldn't bother about me or my safety, when I worked for late night, as she knew very well that I was trained in self-defense academy and I had even obtained my graduation certificate. She didn't even mind my working hours, as she was used to the fact that I sometimes slept in the laboratory resting rooms, while waiting for the lab results. She wouldn't even know whether I am home or not and would just proceed with her daily life. She was never a dependent woman and would continue with her daily life, with or without me in it. “Good morning Nicole. How are you today? Any news about anything that I should know of?”, I greeted Nicole as usual and didn't get a normal cheery response. “What happened Nicole? Is something wrong with your life? Why are you looking so sad dear?” I asked her by moving towards her and touched her shoulder. She was still sad and lifted her puffy eyes to look at me. One look was enough to tell me that she didn't sleep the whole night and had cried very hard. Nicole was a very good looking woman in her 30s, but no one could ever tell that she had already completed 30 years. She had an hourglass figure and would compliment her figure by wearing the right kind of formal attire. Today she was in her red knee length formal wear dress with sleeveless design. There was a floral design at the waist part making her look cuter than ever. She had tied her hair into a ponytail and had applied light makeover. Her deep brown eyes complimented her pale skin tone and even a bit of mascara was enough to make her look desirable by men population. “Tell me Nicole, what happened? Did anyone bother you or do you have any emergency? What happened girl? Come on tell me. You know that you can confide in me about anything and I will be there for you”, I started consoling her. She was trying very hard to hold back her tears and I thought that it is not nice to trigger the flow of waterfalls, especially when in the front desk, where everyone walking into the building would notice her crying hard. I turned to leave and that was when I felt a pull on my wrist. I turned around and saw that Nicole was holding my wrist and was trying very hard to hold back her tears, but was failing miserably. I took her hand from my wrist and gestured to Sarah to cover for Nicole for a while and took Nicole outside the premise and towards the garden. Sarah was the other receptionist and was a good friend of mine, but not as close as Nicole. She was also very pretty and it is a universal fact that women with pretty faces and pale skin with perfect figures will always be stationed at the front desk, so as to converse with the customers without any problem. There were actually 3 front desk executives as ours was quite a big company. Anyways, we kept walking till we reached the benches that were placed for the strollers to sit and enjoy some time amidst nature. The best part of our garden is that there were trees and even flowers belonging to many Genus and species. Apart from being decorative plants, many plants had medicinal value and were cultivated with the main purpose of being utilized for the production purposes, during the preparation of medicines. Me and Nicole sat on a bench and she started sobbing very hard. “Tell me what happened Nicole? Why are you sobbing? Did anyone do or say anything to you?” I started cooing her. “El-Elena, my boy-boyfriend broke up wi-with me. . . . He sa-said that he doesn't lo-love me any-anymore. . .  But I think that he ha-has been chea-cheating on m-me for weeks now. . I-I found so-some clues like the ticket to the theater, ha-hair strands and even the smell of a different lady cologne an-and lipstick mark on his shi-shirt. . ." "Every time I asked him, he would come up with a story and would act all sad because I doubted his love for me. Now it's confirmed that he has been cheating on me, as the girl had called me and told me that she now has won my James, like he is some kind of trophy. What shall I do Elena? I'm feeling very much sad. What did I do wrong that I'm experiencing this? Am I such a bad person? I seriously cant believe that he betrayed my trust in him" and with that she started all sobbing once again. Boyfriend girlfriend drama was very much new to me. I never had a boyfriend as I was a nerd from the school and college days. Boys preferred my friendship only when they had difficulty in studying any topic in the syllabus. So I had zero experience in the field. I don't know what to do in such situations. What can I advise her? I know nothing about this James, as Nicole hardly spoke anything about him with me. I just stayed mum and was just staring at her sobbing very hard. I finally mustered the courage to move a bit closer to her and held her hands and told her that everything will be alright. It might be a bit hard at the beginning, but she will surely find the courage to move on. “Nicole, I don’t have much experience in the field and I don’t know anything about your boyfriend. So, it is not my place to comment about anything here. Just remember that this is not the end of your life. You still have so many years ahead of your life. Forget about the cheating boyfriend and move on. You will surely find the one who would love you for who you are” I attempted to console her, as I had never done so in my life. I don't believe that I'm about to say this, but I surely did say. "Nicole, why don't we go out tonight. Go clubbing and blow off some steam and celebrate your newly found freedom. You can take your mind off of James and we can enjoy being single to the fullest. Who knows, you might even find some nice rebound for you tonight. What do you say?" I asked her with a smile on my face. She thought for a while and then nodded her head "Oh awesome. Let's get off from work at around 6.30. I will go home and get ready and meet you at Nick's. What do you say?" I was expecting her answer. Nick’s was a pub that was located very close to our office and nearby Nicole’s apartment. It was going to be a long and drunk night, as I knew very well about Nicole and her drinking habits.